Why do we have art shows? Is it just to sell work? I don't think so - hanging your work and waiting for someone to purchase it isn't necessarily the best way to sell mass quantities of products. Is it just to get honest feedback? I don't think that's the reason either - you'll get quicker knee-jerk reactions from people on the internet. I propose we have art shows to engage with others and art at the same time - to celebrate, discuss, challenge, and appreciate in community. That was the most difficult hurdle for the art world during COVID because we couldn't be together. Many art programs and artists took to the internet to show their work. For us at the Palmyra HS art department, school shut down with our art show half installed, two weeks before the opening event. It was crushing for the students, but I would argue that it is equally crushing for the teacher putting hours into uploading images into a presentation for the internet to only have 50 people view it (we normally average around 200 in attendance at our in-person art shows). At the beginning of the pandemic, and as a district art department, we brainstormed and chose to not do the internet-based art shows, piggyback off of the library's initiative of the "bear hunt," and ask the students & community to place their artworks in their window. We called it "The QuARTantine Art Show." We made a map of the district, highlighted neighborhoods participating, created a Goosechase scavenger hunt, and invited everyone to chalk their driveways and walkways to gain attention. Mr. Carroll distributed coloring pages of caricatures of himself and decked out the family SUV and drove around for hours visiting the sites of the art "galleries," Mrs. Simpson installed an image of Kelsey Montague-inspired wings in her front yard for a photo op, Mr. Madonna created and managed the complex map, and Mrs. Heath and I created the Goosechase scavenger hunts, and when Mrs. Heath's baby came early, I left feedback on as many students' sidewalks as I could. We received a lot of positive feedback from the community about the three-day show and everyone seemed to really enjoy the needed levity and break from the screens! We were back to school in-person (but distanced, masked, and hybrid) in the fall, so once again, we were faced with the challenge of having an art show that couldn't be as large and indoors as we were used to. My new counterpart (Mrs. Heath took a year of maternity leave - good timing!), Miss. Moore, and I decided to have an outdoor art show using clothespins and the new turf field fence as the display hooks and wall. Miss. Moore also suggested a community collaborative piece, so we offered the community to design and weave a fabric strip into the fence. Of course it was the hottest day in May, but it was incredible and once again, the community was so appreciative and supportive of our attempt to have a "real" art show for the students. After all the crazy planning and adjusting caused by the pandemic, I feel that I now have a new understanding of the importance, purpose, and requirements of an art show. My definition of an "art show" is much more flexible than it used to be. So, after the past year + of unique school art shows, and after my own curated art show, and then my husband's art/craft show debut (turned family art display), when my almost-4-year-old son asked to have an art show, I said "sure!" I remember Phoebe telling me this story of her own son wanting an art show, so she popped some popcorn, he laid out his pieces, and he invited the neighborhood kids over to look at his work. I applied this equation (snacks + art + community) and added in my new found art show flexible thinking to give my son an art show in our backyard (and of course it rained). We changed the display method from our fence to string hung inside a tent, and, since it was already raining, we added in some messy non-traditional artmaking fun for toddlers. Despite the rain, much fun and artful learning was had by all (so much fun that I later discovered toy cars planted in my flowerpots)! Art Show Moral Take-Away (after 16+ months of creative problem-solving): ART + COMMUNITY + SHARING (and snacks, when available) = successful art show.
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